I am writing this review to warn others about the unacceptable service I received at BLS International Calgary during my child's passport renewal process. The Problem: BLS staff falsely told me that courier service ($60.70 extra) was mandatory for passport delivery, even though their own website clearly states it's optional. When I requested in-person pickup, they insisted it wasn't available and forced me to pay the additional courier fee, bringing my total from $72.70 to $133.40. Months of Runaround: After discovering this was against their own published policy, I filed a complaint in early June 2025. What followed was over a month of: Empty promises of "24-48 hour" responses Multiple escalations through their complaint system Repeated template responses with no actual resolution Being told the refund was "processed immediately" in June, only to wait another month Only External Intervention Worked: The only reason I eventually got my refund was because I had to: File a formal complaint with the Consulate General of India in Vancouver Escalate to Service Alberta Consumer Protection Get help from external bodies and other people who guided me through the process Without this outside help and pressure, BLS would have kept my money and ignored my legitimate complaint. Final Outcome: It took over 6 weeks and involvement from the Indian Consulate before BLS finally processed my refund in late July 2025. Even then, they made me pick up a physical cheque during limited hours (3-4:30 PM weekdays only) instead of refunding to my original payment method. Warning to Others: Don't trust BLS staff when they say optional services are "mandatory" Take screenshots of their website policies before your appointment Be prepared to involve the consulate if you have any disputes Keep detailed records of all communications BLS International has a captive market for Indian consular services, and they clearly exploit this position. Their staff either don't know their own policies or deliberately mislead customers to generate extra revenue. I would not recommend BLS International to anyone. If you must use their services, be extremely careful about what fees you're told are "mandatory" and be prepared to fight for what's right. Update: I only received resolution after escalating to the Consulate General and getting help from consumer protection services. Other applicants facing similar issues should not hesitate to seek external help immediately rather than wasting time with BLS's ineffective internal complaint system. This review captures your experience accurately and warns others while acknowledging that external help was crucial to getting your refund. You can adjust the tone or length as needed for different review platforms. read more

I wish to place on record my recent experience at BLS International, Calgary. Having to renew my Passport, I was fortunate to receive help from one of your employees, by name Neha. She was not only very polite but treated me with due respect, which is much needed today. My work was completed fast at BLS because Neha went through all the application details very diligently and with a good dose of patience. My day was made pleasant due to her energetic behaviour & charm. She is a good role model for others & I can only wish her further success in all her endeavours. May her tribe increase! read more

Note, this issue vests solely with BLS agency and their inferior means of quality servicing, nothing against Bharat (India) in particular! Due to an address change in Canada (from Toronto to Calgary) the BLS India personnel on phone had mentioned nothing with regards to sending India's proof of address prior to sending application This was returned saying application was incomplete as 'Indian proof of address' was not provided. This was not explicitly stated on the form. The issue is procedurally unfair, resulting in the return of application for Indian passport renewal Furthermore, type A (e) of the checklist mentions requirements for 'Proof of present Address'. It is logical to think from an applicant point of view that (i) we reside in Canada, (ii) the change of address is associated within Canada, and not India. Request for Canadian address was logical to sound wherein bank statement as proof was confirmed with the gentleman Secondly, a conversation with a lady representative on a phone call after return of application, said that "...it's obvious for us to know and to provide the proof of Indian address..." even if it is not explicitly stated in checklist it should have been reasonably understood to provide one along with the submitted application, itself is misleading and disturbing as to know what isn't mentioned in the checklist is also to be provided. This infers lack of proper guidelines and required disclosure that "...it's natural and obvious to know..." from the representative in making a statement that isn't appropriate. It's redundant to have such personnel that would fail to provide accurate instructions as it reflects a failure in either their training or their ability to do job in an appropriate manner. It literally was that I was doing her job by ascertaining why that was unnecessary as change of address pertained within Canada As there is no explicit mention of need for 'Indian proof of address', without being known the purpose and how the system can relate to this change internally, it is not a rational consideration to pretend for context that none of us work at the BLS center such that we would have been aware of requisite need for Indian proof of address The return of application in this regard as a legal process is not user friendly and unfair to sustain loss of $110 paid initially for courier charges through purolator as it was per guided process through BLS gentleman When I went in-person at Calgary location to submit the application along with 'Indian proof of address' the personnel there duly neglected the copy saying it is not necessary. Since passport pickup for Calgary location is in Vancouver, it was not tenable for me to go there in-person, I ended up paying twice for Purolator to have passport returned in mail There is no denying that the agency is involved in fraudulent service. By means to defraud users by simply rejecting correct and complete applications in instances sent through Purolator results in charging additional wherein there is no attribute to the fault of applicant was duly neglected as they no doubt not only didn't seem to care about making additional payment, but didn't even bother looking at who the officer was earlier and provide no means of redress. Justice is clearly denied read more

Terrible Terrible Customer Service...!!! Representing a high level office for India, the office is in a very poor state. The employees in the office should be trained on how to present themselves. None of the staff smiles or greets or is courteous. They are not rude but just cold. It's as if they are doing a favor by helping you for the services. Their customer service phone assistance is terrible. First of all you will need to have a lot of luck to get someone on phone. There is tons of room for this place and people to improve. read more